Situated about 11 km outside of Sandakan, the former site of the notorious WWII prisoner of war camp now locates the suburb of Taman Rimba.The clearly sign-posted Sandakan Memorial Park is well maintained and beautifully landscaped, which makes it ideal for solitary soul-searching strolls.
The Sandakan Australian Memorial commemorates allied soldiers who lost their lives during the Japanese occupation. Some 2400 men, most of them Australian, left this camp on the infamous 'death march' towards the end of the war, only six of them survived to reach Ranau, near Mount Kinabalu, a year later.
In 1996 funding was allocated by the Australian Government towards improvement of the park as an educative and commemorative site. In 1998 the OAWG, on behalf of the Federal Government, commenced work upgrading the park to meet this objective.
The opening ceremony of the newly developed Sandakan Memorial Park and dedication of the Memorial Obelisk took place on March 18, 1999. Until today, the Sandakan Memorial Park has received more than 15,800 visitors since it’s opening in March 1999. 60 per cent of these visitors came from Australia and the United Kingdom while the remaining 40 per cent came from Malaysia.
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